Stamford sausage business served with eviction; layoffs imminent

Facing eviction by city, Stamford sausage maker to shut down until it can set up new location

Kate King

Updated 12:46 pm, Saturday, December 21, 2013

Jennifer Oxer of DeYulio Sausage holds eviction notice on Friday December 20, 2013 in the Stamford, Conn. office. The business is getting evicted on Monday forcing the furlough of 20 employees right before Christmas as the city looks to move ahead with the third phase of the Urban Transitway Project.

Photo: Dru Nadler

Jennifer Oxer of DeYulio Sausage holds eviction notice on Friday...

Jennifer Oxer of DeYulio Sausage holds eviction notice on Friday December 20, 2013 in the Stamford, Conn. office. The business is getting evicted on Monday forcing the furlough of 20 employees right before Christmas as the city looks to move ahead with the third phase of the Urban Transitway Project.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Jennifer Oxer of DeYulio Sausage holds eviction notice on Friday...

Jennifer Oxer of DeYulio Sausage holds eviction notice on Friday December 20, 2013 in the Stamford, Conn. office. The business is getting evicted on Monday forcing the furlough of 20 employees right before Christmas as the city looks to move ahead with the third phase of the Urban Transitway Project.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Jennifer Oxer of DeYulio Sausage holds eviction notice on Friday...

Workers prepare sausage at DeYulio Sausage on Friday December 20, 2013 in Stamford, Conn. office. The business is getting evicted on Monday forcing the furlough of 20 employees right before Christmas as the city looks to move ahead with the third phase of the Urban Transitway Project.
Photo: Dru Nadler

STAMFORD -- Their delays and legal appeals nearly exhausted, DeYulio Sausage Co. is poised to close Monday after more than 100 years in business, leaving nearly two dozen employees out of work two days before Christmas.

A state marshal delivered the eviction notice Friday, said DeYulio Manager Jennifer Oxer. The third-generation family business must vacate its 2,700-square-foot factory located on the corner of Elm Street and Myrtle Avenue by 8 a.m. Monday.

"We'll be closed down, essentially," Oxer said. "All 20 employees will be laid off right before the holidays."

DeYulio's, which has operated in Stamford since the 1900s, was one of six East Side properties acquired by the city under eminent domain two years ago. The buildings were marked for demolition to make way for the second phase of the $65 million Urban Transitway project.

DeYulio's owners looked for a new location and thought they had found one in Bridgeport, announcing in May they planned to buy Dari Farms Ice Cream's 13,715-square-foot warehouse on State Street.

In June, Stamford signed a legal settlement with DeYulio's, agreeing to waive the company's $3,473 monthly rent if they promised to vacate their East Side location by Dec. 8.

But DeYulio's deal with the bank fell apart in September, leaving the sausage makers scrambling to find a new factory. On Friday, Oxer said the company has found another location, but won't be able to move in until March.

"Stuff happened and it was stuff we couldn't control," she said. "We have a commitment letter from the bank. We're right about to close on this property."

DeYulio's asked the city to let them stay in their Stamford location through March, even though the terms of their June agreement stipulated that they couldn't ask for any more extensions. The city and a housing court judge denied the company's request.

"If they shut our doors on Monday we're out of business," she said. "In our business if you don't service your customers they're going to go somewhere else. Not to mention all the meat -- we have like 70,000 pounds of meat left on this property."

Rachel Goldberg, the city attorney who handled the case, said the city signed a contract with the Urban Transitway's contractors based on the agreed-upon Dec. 8 move-out date, and any further delay would hinder the project.

The Urban Transitway project involves building a four-lane roadway on Myrtle Avenue between Elm Street and East Main Street, allowing for easier passage between the downtown train station and East Main Street. The six other tenants displaced by the project's second phase have already vacated their properties, said Project Manager Ann Brown.

Construction on the third phase of the Urban Transitway, which broke ground this summer, has progressed to the point where the utility company is preparing to install new electrical poles on the sausage factory's property, Brown said.

"It takes months and months to get the utilities to move the electrical wires from one pole to another because they have to splice the lines," she said. "If they don't do it in a scheduled fashion now, everything else with the construction will be behind schedule."

The contractor also needs to demolish the sausage factory's building and use the location as a staging area, which will help minimize disruption to residents and surrounding businesses during construction, Brown said. The demolition is tentatively scheduled for mid-January.

"We've really let them stay as long as they could," Brown said. "The other owners that had to vacate their buildings; we've given these people a lot longer time. It is the final hour and we need this building now. Delays cost money, a lot of money."

This is the second time eminent domain has displaced DeYulio's. The company has been at its East Side location since the 1960s, when the city purchased its former headquarters on Pacific Avenue to make way for urban redevelopment.

"We've been here since the 1900s paying taxes to the city," Oxer said. "This is our second eminent domain. We survived the recession just to be pushed out by the city. Now they're evicting us and we'll have to shut down."

The company's closure means Stamford resident Jameel Doctor will be out of a job. Doctor has worked for DeYulio's just shy of one year as a driver delivering sausage and chopped meat to restaurants and delis all over the state.

"This job is keeping me out of trouble and busy," Doctor said. "I want to support my family. I think it's going to be a more stressful Christmas."

Doctor, who has a three-year-old son, is expecting his second child within weeks. If DeYulio's closes he will likely have to go on unemployment while he looks for another job.

"I'm worried about my living situation," he said. "I have bills and a baby on the way."